Reviews

I like this place a lot. I've been there quite a few times, but I've not written a review before. With that in mind, it may be a little uncharitable in my first review of the Boot to write about a bad experience.
I don't hold them responsible for the three testosterone-charged yahoos at the next table who were determined to make a pizza last for the whole of the hockey game on TV, but their distracting presence was not a positive addition to the atmosphere we usually enjoy. However, I do expect that, when they hire a new server, they ensure that the person is fully-trained on the details of the menu before being let loose on an unsuspecting public.
My wife and I ordered two beverages, one salad, and two entrees. As I ordered each food item, the server asked me to point it out on the menu before she wrote it down. Away she went, and it took two goals and a slashing minor in the hockey game before the drinks arrived. Another long wait and the basket of warm bread turned up. No plates for the olive oil and balsamic vinegar though. We had to attract the attention of another person to get those.
Because of the long wait for the bread, the entrees arrived before we had finished one stick. Only one of the orders was correct. By the time my correct order arrived (with the salad that we had by then given up on), my wife was almost finished.
OK, the server was very apologetic, and kept saying it was because she was new and hadn't got used to the menu yet, and she didn't charge us for one entree, but the next time I go to a restaurant where the server asks me to point out our choices on the menu, we shall get up and go to another hostelry.

We, a party of three, arrived expecting a long wait, but were told only 15 minutes. While we were waiting for our table, we couldn’t help noticing the impressive over-staffing at the front of the house. Outside, a valet parker, then an attractive female with an electronic device in her ear opening the front door for us. Then two young ladies to greet us and take our details. A male managerial type was hovering there as well. We lost count of the young lovelies in this area whose job seemed to be to take the diners to their seats or to stand there looking young and lovely. We wondered if all the black mini-dresses available in Coquitlam stores, maybe Burnaby too, might now be on display for our enjoyment and approval. But despite this magnum show of hospitality force, somehow a party of three who came in some time after us managed to be seated before us. Our turn came when a female supervisor, if that is what the gizmo in the ear is supposed to signify, arrived after about 20 minutes or so.
The table that we were taken to was not ready for us at that moment, as evidenced by the complete absence of menus or cutlery, which could be a sign that the front house had realised that we had been kept waiting in error, and hoped that by taking us to any old table, we hadn’t noticed as well (we had).
Eventually, a very attractive server arrived with the menus and asked if we would like something to drink – I guess she had assumed that we had come by earlier in the day and already knew what was on the menu. We asked for a few more minutes. When she returned, our questions about the wines on offer were answered with “I’m not sure about that – I’ll find out for you”. So we guessed.
We waited a very long time for the drinks to arrive, and during that wait, despite the highly intrusive big-screen TVs showing an NBA game, my thoughts were distracted by and old Sex Pistols song containing the stanza “You’re so pretty, you’re so pretty….vacant” going round and round in my head.
Our food order seemed to take a long time as well, a circumstance that we were rapidly getting used to, but which went against the evidence passing before our eyes of a succession of black-attired lovelies whom we had not set eyes on before. Two more ladies eventually stopped by to drop off the plates, followed shortly by another one offering fresh-ground black pepper, and a minute or so later, another one offering freshly-ground black pepper.
$18.99 for a half-order of ribs, a bowl of very fresh but spindly fries, a spoonful of coleslaw and a pot of ketchup. I hadn’t realised that my meal was paying for a large part of the beauty pageant as well.
When the bill arrived, the beer I’d ordered was the first item, and the cost was 20 cents more than the price printed on the menu. Now I know that 20 cents is nothing to someone who can drop nineteen bucks on the rib order I’d just finished, but I was keen to know why there was a discrepancy, so I asked our server to find out. What followed put me in mind of that Monty Python sketch where the diner makes a small comment about the slightly dirty fork. The restaurant manager personally came to the table to explain that the bar manager had been taken out and shot, but not before they had deducted the cost of the beer from the outstanding wages to be paid to his widow and kids. OK, it wasn’t as dramatic as that, but they did take the beer off the bill when all I would have wanted was a correction. I can’t walk past a crooked picture without straightening it either.
I must say that one of the reasons for going to Joey’s was the glowing reports I’d read on this website. My experience was a little less impressive. Oh, and the valet parking stops when the rain starts.

If. like me, you are English, you will almost invariably be disappointed at the pathetic attempts around the Lower Mainland to reproduce an "English" pub. Somehow it doesn't translate very well. If you have spent any time in Italy however, Tuscany in particular, you will feel the fond memories trickling back as you tuck into the first plate put in front of you at Coza. I recommend that this first plate be a shared one with your dinner partner, specifically, the new Antipasto platter ($9 each for two people). It is a marvellous combo of meats, cheeses, salad vegetables and condiments that really put me in mind of similar fare in Tuscan hilltowns like Volterra or Cortona. There are also 2-person main course and dessert platters, which we haven't tried yet. The main course pastas are very good - my favourite is the spaghetti diavolo because I like "spicy". Last time out, I tried a Tuscan-style pork chop with spaghetti. Excellent - tender and tasty. Trouble with both these dishes is that I enjoyed them so much, I'm reluctant to try other items at future visits for fear that they won't live up to them. We'll see.
The wine list is about as varied as I would expect for a restaurant of this type, including some good Italian choices. If you find it difficult to make your mind up, try one of what they call a "wine vine"; three smaller wine glasses on a stand, each conaining a sample of a good quality Italian red or white. My wife chose the one they call, somewhat inconguously, the "Huck", and while she enjoyed the reds more than the white, all were very palatable. They also have a small selection of Italian beers added to the usual fare.
If you go to Coza, remember that it is geared to providing you with menu choices that you will not find in many other restaurants. So please look past the Caesar salad and steak that you can get anywhere, and choose something different. The couple in the BC Lions "name" shirts at the table next to me last time out clearly haven't crossed this particular Rubicon yet. If in doubt, ask the staff for a recommendation, because they do seem to know the menu very well.

Take-out is my usual choice because of the convenience. Reminds me of Saturday nights as a teen in England.
By the way the staff can't count. You order "three-piece" fish and chips, and you get four pieces of fish most times. Chips are REAL chips; thick cut and just potato - no fancy coatings.
We have, on occasion, sat down for a meal in the restaurant, and the service has been good, if a little business-like. I also have noticed that the customer demographic tends to be older - seniors seem to like it there. It's not, in my experience, a hang-out for kids. Hear that, kids? Let's keep it that way.